Introduction

I remember looking at the original Midgard from Xigmatek and I even refreshed my memory by looking at the old review from 2010. As I remember, the original offered something like five ODD bays, five HDD bays with metal trays, seven expansion slots and a pair of orange bladed fans to go along with the tool-less mechanisms used in that chassis. One other thing I remember was that the original did have most of the front and the entire top covered with mesh for easy breathe-ability for both air in through the front. Via convection it allowed hot air to escape right through the top passively or you could add fans to help things along. All in all, for the time of its release, the Midgard had an oddly placed front I/O panel, but other than that it was a nice chassis for its day.

As time progresses, older designs are left in the dust in favor of cases with USB 3.0, room to manage wires behind the motherboard tray and even handy hot-swap SATA hard drive docks built into cases are a huge hit. Well, Xigmatek saw the writing on the wall and took what was a good selling product for them and figured it was time to update the chassis to today's customers' expectations. With a fresh set of eyes, the new release got both an exterior and an interior redo. There are some subtle hints to the original case, but honestly it looks a lot like the mid towers we seen from BitFenix. Either way, the new chassis is a definite improvement over the original concept.

The Midgard II is the mid-tower chassis from Xigmatek that is the new evolution of the Midgard chassis. With a new front bezel, a redesigned top panel, the injection of USB 3.0 and the option for a X shaped window or the dual fan behind mesh version I have today are the major changes outside along with what Xigmatek calls a "leather coating" to both the top and front of the plastic components of those panels.

On the inside the Midgard II also holds a few surprises, like a better layout, removable sections of drive bays for additional room and a much more subtle final presentation inside than the original had. There is much more than just this to be seen in the Midgard II from Xigmatek, so get comfy as I take you through all of the changes that make the Midgard II so much better than the original concept I looked at near eighteen months ago!